LATIN AMERICA – The new report by the US Department of Justice on the sexual misconduct of four law enforcement agencies is full of smutty details that may yet seriously impact their credibility in Latin America.
The report found that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) — in an unidentified country that The Washington Post confirmed was Colombia — held sex parties with “prostitutes funded by the local drug cartels […] at their government-leased quarters, over a period of several years.” Three DEA officers who attended these parties also allegedly received “money, expensive gifts, and weapons from drug cartel members,” according to the report.
Prostitution is legal in designated zones in...

TODAY COLOMBIA – Members of a Colombian drug cartel have been sentenced for smuggling more than 100 kilos of high quality cocaine worth US$35.4 million dollars into the UK, inside bananas.
Londoners Leonel...

TODAY COLOMBIA – It has been reported that in the past two years the proportion of healthy kernal in a sample of pergamino coffee went up to 81%, while residues from threshing decreased from 20% to 19%.
From a statement issued by the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia (FNC):
The coffee renovation program undertaken by coffee growers in Colombia...

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Saturday began a tour of the country’s military barracks to explain ongoing peace talks with guerrilla group FARC and quell unrest about possible military cuts in the event of peace.
Santos was accompanied by former Generals Jorge Enrique Mora and Oscar Naranjo, both negotiators at the table of discussion with the rebels in Havana, Cuba.
The...

LATIN AMERICA – The new report by the US Department of Justice on the sexual misconduct of four law enforcement agencies is full of smutty details that may yet seriously impact their credibility in Latin America.
The...

The former director of Colombia’s largest but now-defunct brokerage firm Interbolsa was captured on Thursday, only eight days after the release of a “red notice” permitting his arrest.
Victor Maldonado, once one of Colombia’s most celebrated businessmen, was captured in Spain, according to Colombian newspaper Caracol News. He had previously been spotted in Madrid.
The fugitive received a “red notice” from police network Interpol last week for his involvement in the illegal activities of the firm which lost over 20,000 investors an estimated $500 million in 2012.
Maldonado had previously received an Interpol “blue notice,” allowing for his location to be identified by police in the 192 countries associated with the organisation....

Some 4.4 million Colombians, or 9.2% of the population, rose out of poverty between 2009 and 2014, according to President Juan Manuel Santos.
The president named Colombia as the Latin American country with the...

The body of a key FARC commander has been found in in south-central Colombia, the Colombian army claimed on Wednesday.
The commander of the guerrillas’ 66th front, “Pedro Nel,” was found in an improvised grave in the Planadas municipality in the Tolima state.
According to the military, the deceased guerrilla commander was severely injured in combat with a...

TODAY COLOMBIA – 38% of the colombian companies who have invested in the country are dedicated to services, 28% to industry, 11% to construction and 23% to tourism, commerce or agriculture, says a report by Proclombia.
The service, food and manufacturing sectors are generating the most interest among Colombian investors, who in the last ten years have invested about US$750 million in Costa Rica.
Data from Procolombia added that in the same period, the Costa Rica has invested just US$269 million in Colombia.
Estimates from the Costa Rican Coalition for Development Initiatives (Coalición Costarricense de Iniciativas de Desarrollo – CINDE) indicate that “… The Colombians account for 33% of production and sales of paint,...

TODAY COLOMBIA – One Colombian woman was on the Germanwings airplane that crashed in the French Alps on Wednesday, killing all 150 on board, local media reported.
The 33-year-old Colombian victim was a masters...

TODAY CCOLOMBIA – Damaged roofs, fallen trees, collapsed roads and destroyed power lines were the ravages left by Sunday’s hailstorm that hit some neighborhoods of Bogotá.
The most affected were Santa Isabel, La Fragua and El Restrepo.
The Bogota Fire Department reported that rainfall “generated water depths of between 15 and 20 inches...